The Earth Can Survive Without Us

Published in der Tagesspiegel
(Germany) on 30 June 2010
by (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Ron Argentati. Edited by Sam Carter.
Alarm, Alarm, Alarm! When the ocean floor breaks open and billions upon billions of liters of oil flow out to pollute the world’s seas, it is then true that the worst-case scenario has become a reality for all of us.

All of us. Not just for the poor fishermen of America’s Gulf Coast region. It’s then no longer a simple matter of the marine life and other animals that already have it bad enough as they suffer and die by the thousands. No, it’s then a matter of the whole global ecology system because water is one of the world’s elements necessary to support life. This crisis has been going on for a long time and America is just getting around to asking for help from other nations. The president should have done that far, far sooner than he did. The United States is a democracy. It is not a closed system with the rule: If it shouldn’t be, it can’t be, so we’ll just ignore it. The nation needs both the ideas and the dynamic to turn the ideas into reality, for that is what will first gain control over the crisis and then finally end it. The United States needs brain power. Anger that Washington underestimated the extent of the problem is growing by the day. This is a man-made crisis. It affects us all. We can’t live without the earth, but the earth can live without us. It can shake us off just as it did the dinosaurs.



Die Erde kann auch ohne uns (Ein Kommentar)
30.06.2010

Alarm, Alarm, Alarm! Wenn der Ozeanboden brüchig wird, wenn daraufhin Abermilliarden Liter Öl ausströmen, wenn die Weltmeere verseucht werden – dann, ja, dann haben wir alle den Super-Gau.

Wir alle, nicht mehr nur die armen Fischer vor der amerikanischen Küste. Es geht dann nicht mehr allein um die Fische und das Getier, das, schlimm genug, jetzt schon elend verreckt. Nein, dann geht es um unser Weltökosystem, weil Wasser eines der Lebenselemente der Erde ist. So lange geht diese Krise schon, und in diesen Stunden erst wollen die USA, dass ihnen geholfen wird. Das hätte der Präsident viel, viel früher sagen sollen, müssen. Die Vereinigten Staaten sind doch eine Demokratie, kein geschlossenes System, in dem gilt: Es kann nicht sein, was nicht sein darf, und darum herrscht Schweigen. Ideen braucht es, und die Dynamik, sie Wirklichkeit werden zu lassen, um diese Krise zunächst einzudämmen und dann zu beenden. „Brainpower“ brauchen die USA. Mit jedem Tag wächst die Wut, dass Washington das Ausmaß unterschätzt zu haben scheint. Diese Krise ist menschengemacht. Sie betrifft uns. Wir können nicht ohne die Erde leben. Die Erde aber kann es, sie kann uns abschütteln wie die Dinosaurier.
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